Tag Archives: death

Week 11 – Distant Star

This was an interesting book, definitely one of my favourites that we have read. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised. Something that really stood out to me was how different the overall writing style of the book was, in a way it was a lot less magical then the other books we have read. Also, I found the way the characters were written and the way the story was narrated to be quite interesting. I was definitely captivated by the way the story was progressing.

Throughout the novel I couldn’t help but fixate on two characters, Carlos Wieder and the narrator. I found Carlos to be such an interesting and complex character. He was seen and described as being a brilliant poet who wrote poetry when flying his airplane (which is so cool), and attracted a lot of admirers for his poetry. The way he is described makes him seem like a normal character, however when it’s later discovered that he is a serial killer, there is something new added to the story. Something I kept coming back to with his character was how you can’t really escape your past. It didn’t matter that Alberto changed his name and essentially started a new life for himself, he still couldn’t escape that desire or need to kill people and portray it in some way. I found it ironic how when he was known as Alberto, he was a mysterious poetry student that not many people knew too well, and then when he changed his name to Carlos, he became this famous poet. The attention and power he had as this brilliant person who writes poetry with his airplane in the sky, ended up becoming his downfall. In a way he became more corrupt as he grew more famous, and he allowed his true-self to be shown when he displayed those horrific photos. It seemed that Wieder/Ruiz-Tagle couldn’t escape his love for poetry…and killing.

Moving on from the character of Carlos, there is one piece of imagery that I haven’t been able to move on from, and that was Lorenzo’s attempted suicide. With everything else that was going on throughout, it felt kind of out of place to mention suicide, but also made sense at the same time. Regardless of that, the way it was described “Then he went under again. This time too he kept his eyes open: he turned his head calmly (as if under anaesthetic), looking for something, anything, as long as it was beautiful, to be his last memory.” (pg.81), was one of the most poetic lines written in the novel. This writing style and imagery was such a stark-contrast from overall writing in the book.

Question to think about: Why was poetry a central theme throughout the novel? The actual concept of poetry isn’t really expanded on, like actual poems, but instead its used as a foundation for the storyline. I’m just curious to know why Bolaño chose to use poetry, as a backdrop for a, relatively, dark-themed novel.

Week 8 – One Hundred Years of Solitude (Part 2)

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Well, I finished the book during the reading break, which in hindsight I realize was a bad idea. I was struggling to figure out what to say this week, so I decided to just focus on the last chapter, which in all honesty was interesting but also kind of disappointing. There was a lot that was done in the last chapter that tied up the book, but also simultaneously left the reader wondering about the ending. Personally, I felt like the ending was kind of abrupt and that there was kind of a build-up throughout the novel that kind of fell through at the end. I don’t know what I was expecting because it was kind of obvious what was going to happen, but nonetheless it felt anti-climatic. I guess the “simple-ish” ending added to the realistic aspect of the book. In reality not everything has or needs a big, splashy ending. Anyways, besides the way the book ended there is one piece of imagery that I can’t forget, and that’s the ants.

When Ürsula and José had their child and it was born with the tail of a pig, I knew the kid was going to end up having the same fate as the rest of the family. However, I never anticipated for it to be so gruesome and quick. I expected there to be a mention of the kid growing up and dying or maybe just being forgotten about, but instead we get told that the baby was devoured by ants. The imagery from the lines “And then he saw the child. It was a dry and bloated bag of skin that all the ants in the world were dragging toward their holes along the stone path in the garden.” (pg.553), is so clear in my mind. I did not expect Márquez to write about a baby succumbing to such a brutal death, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. The imagery is just so haunting and it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.

Overall, I would say this was a good book and I did enjoy it. I had read Márquez’s “Chronicle of a Death Foretold“, and didn’t really enjoy it but this book made me change my mind about his writing style. He really knows how to capture magic realism in such a beautiful way.

Question to think about: Every character dies a sad death at the end of the novel, however Márquez writes the most gruesome death for the newborn baby. Why do you think he chose to kill the baby like that? Did being eaten by ants add something more to the story?

Week 6 – Pedro Paramo

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This was a somewhat confusing but welcomed read. Compared to last weeks Labyrinths, this book was a breath of fresh air. While nothing will ever be as confusing as last weeks read, I will say this book did come a close second. The narration between Juan and Pedro was confusing and a bit hard to follow because the timeline would go back and forth, without a clear separation. For those of you who have watched the show Dark, the jumps between timelines in this book were similar to those in the show. Anyways, I found myself paying really close attention to what was being said and to who was saying it. While I was reading it, I felt like I was essentially reading short stories that had to be pieced together, kind of like a puzzle. Once I was able to piece together what was happening my final conclusion was that the book was sad. When combining the story of the people in the ghost town, the kind of person Pedro was and how Juan would never get the chance to meet his father, all made the story so sad to read about.

It was sad to think about how Juan came to Comala with the determination and promise to his mother to find his father, only to find out through the dead townspeople that he died. When I first started the book I thought it would be about a son finding closure for his childhood without his dad. However, I felt it instead became a story about loss, death and hopelessness. It seemed to me that every character was living in a state of hopelessness that resulted in their death. With Pedro he lost his childhood crush and it put him into this state of despair, which made him cause destruction to those around him and it eventually costed him his life. For Juan he lost his mother and came to the town hoping to find his father and claim his inheritance, only to find out he is dead. It seemed like whatever the characters were hoping to achieve or gain, never happened and they ended up falling into a state of utter despair. The idea that whatever hope the characters had would only resulted in loss and hopelessness, added a sense of realism to the story. It really highlighted the fact that in life not everything we hope for can be achieved and that you can go through life living only in despair.

Question to think about: By using themes of hopelessness and despair, what do you think the author trying to convey throughout the story? That life can only be full of hopelessness?